Life Through a Kaleidoscope Lens

So I have started to use different applications to change pictures and add some creativity to the pics. This initially started to help document my times and travels here in Europe. Now I have taken it a step further and am adding some of my favorite quotes because I have always collected quotes and love how they can convey complex messages in simple terms. I thought I would share some of my pictures with the quotes. The first couple are from Brain Andreas who does Storybook People. I love his quotes because they are so whimsical and hearttouching.



"They came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world and after awhile they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do someday."




Anyone can slay a dragon ...but try waking up every morning and loving the world all
over again. That's what takes a real hero."



"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable & fall asleep & miss your life"




"You're the strangest person I have ever met, she said.
And I said you too and we decided we'd know each other a long time"



"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
Because in the end, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway"
-Mother Teresa



"Why did you do all this for me?" he asked.
"I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.'
'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte.
'That in itself is a tremendous thing."
-Charlotte's Web

My Sweettart Experience!

So my older brother has always been able to do something that impresses me more than anything. He has been able to cut things out of his life… cold turkey and for good!!! A matter of fact, he has tried to mentor me into being able to just "cut the fat" and not look back. Sadly, I am not very good at it.

Besides being able to just drop things out of his life, he has also been able to remember crazy amounts of information and recall it at a drop of a dime. His mind is like a steel trap. So now that you guys envision this kid as a heartless Rain man, let me explain where I am going.

Greg used to be afraid that he was “addicted” to certain things; pop, spree candy, sweettarts, etc. So when he felt that he had become dependent on these things, he would just completely cut them out. NO CHEATING! NO GOING BACK! JUST GOODBYE! And the amazing thing is that he would remember the day. So if you asked him today, “Hey Greg, when did you last eat a Sweettart?” He would respond without hesitation, “November 13, 1994” and that was that. And you knew that was the last time the sweetness of that tarty candy did indeed hit his mouth.

I am not like this… I have no problem saying I need to cut back on something… but cold turkey goodbyes to things in my life, are just not my thing.

But I have decided that I am ready to do my first cold turkey cut… well, sorta. I have decided to cut something out of my life for at least 30 days and then see how it goes. For me, it is a step in the right direction 

I have decided that I am going to deactivate my facebook account. I feel that I go on this social network and it makes me feel falsely connected to people back home. Instead of calling or emailing or having interactive conversations of some type, I just stalk people’s facebook pages. Then I look at pictures and read status updates and when I do talk to people on the phone, I already know what they have been doing. I just don’t think this is right. So I have decided that I am going to spend 30 days focusing on what I call old school communication; phone calls and emails... maybe even a few cards or hand written notes, who knows?

So I do think if I am going to do this; just do it. Don’t talk about doing it... but deactivate already. And I went through all the steps but the very last one today, and let me tell you why… this story makes me such a dork!

So I sent a private message to about twenty people from back home letting them know that I was going to do this and my main reason is that I wanted to focus on staying in touch with them more. They were the people that I followed on facebook and I wanted to talk to them, not stalk them. Then I went to deactivate my account and this is what happened:

1. Facebook gives you a downright guilt trip if you try to deactivate your account. After you tell them why you are making this silly decision, it brings you to a page that says, “Hattie Maria is going to miss you” and it shows a picture of you and her having a grand old time. “Missy is going to miss you” and sure enough I remember by a facebook photo we are both tagged in that we did have some great times. And “Dave is going to miss you” ...and shucks, I don’t know what to do because I didn't even think about what this would do to Dave. But I decide that I can just call all of these people and they will be fine without my facebook presence for a month or so. So I move on in the deactivation process.
2. I get to the final step. That step where you have to type in an encrypted code so facebook can make sure that someone somewhere is not just using a computer program to deactivate a lot of people’s accounts. And I am two letters… TWO LETTERS from finishing this and all of a sudden a game changing thought pops into my head… “My birthday is in 1 week and that is my favorite facebook day.” People from throughout your life feel the need to wish you a happy birthday because they are reminded via facebook that it is your bday. How sad because I seriously only didn’t deactivate today because I wanted to wait til after my birthday.

So I am still on facebook, but did send out another message to all those that I reached out to earlier and declared that I was leaving and said, “Operation Ditch Facebook will have to wait til after my birthday.”

Now I am sure that this has raised some questions for all of you, so I do want to address some FAQs:

Q. Why don’t you just not log onto your account for 30 days?
A. That goes against the whole Sweettart theory. If I know it is there, I will use it. I have to throw away the fat… I can’t cut it and just leave it on my plate. Plus the deciding factor in this decision has been WWGD (What Would Greg Do?)... he would deactivate.

Q. You are going to have to add all your friends again once you resign up for facebook?
A. Fret not, my friends. I have researched this and once you reactivate your account, it just comes back up like you never left. And during the steps of deactivation, facebook even lets you know this.

Q. Everyone that leaves, always comes back... so what will you really accomplish?
A. I am hoping to achieve some good phone call conversations this month, some interactive emails, and more blogging. I know I will probably be back on day 31, but I want to see if it does make a difference and I have thought about this for awhile.

Q. Why don’t you just defriend those people you don’t want in your life?
A. First of all, I have a strong belief that defriending people is extremely passive aggressive. My brother would be extremely angry at me for saying this because he thinks this is the ultimate way to cut the fat out of life and needed but it is just not me. Plus I don’t want to cut people out of my life, I just want to communicate in more meaningful ways with those that mean a lot to me. Second of all, I have been defriended three times (that I know of)... and each time has hurt A LOT because you get NOOOOO closure... NONE!

Q. Why don’t you just call people more and keep facebook?
A. I don’t know... this just seems more dramatic and fun.


So sorry Hattie, Missy, Dave and et al. if you do miss me, but I have made up my mind. But first, please let me enjoy a great facebook day on my bday!

Leaving home

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you" -Christian Morganstern



"Home is where you can say anything you please, because nobody pays any attention to you anyway" -Joe Moore


Today is a TWO BLOG KINDA DAY!!! Actually I have been keeping up with my blogging the old school way: journaling. So today I decided to type some of them up so they can truly become blogs.

So here is Blog #2 of the day.



It hit me yesterday that I have been away from home now long enough for a good friend to have a baby without me even knowing she is pregnant!!! And I realized that I have been away for that long because that exact thing happened! (Thanks facebook for keeping me in the loop.)

Which is sorta ironic that happened and made me feel disconnected from home, because I randomly found a book in my library the other night that I started reading. The book is titled “Leaving Home” and is written by Garrison Keilor. I am not sure where I acquired this book, but I would guess that it was probably part of one of my mom’s infamous care packages that she sends to me here in Germany to remind me of home and that I need to call home. These boxes are usually filled with items that you never knew you wanted and things you did not even realize you were missing in your life. Possibly the book arrived in the same care package that I got a My Little Pony Book and a Playboy magazine (no one can ever say my mom doesn’t have quite the sense of humor) all in one box. (Disclaimer: MOM! I love the care packages... pa-pa-please don't stop sending them... I just don't need anymore magazines. Thanks).

But anyways, I started reading this book and it really hit HOME (pun sorta intended). Maybe because Garrison Keilor and Lake Wobegon are Minnesota classics and I remember listening to Prairie Home Companion on the radio during the summers at our cabin in Hayward, Wisconsin or maybe it is just because I did indeed leave home recently. And the fact that I am away from “home”, has recently really hit “home” for me in a big way.

In the book “Leaving Home” the first paragraph really made me think, it said:

“Leaving home is a kind of forgiveness and when you get among strangers, you’re amazed at how decent they seem. Nobody smirks at you or gossips about you, nobody resents your successes or relishes your defeats. You get to start over, a sort of redemption.”

But with this fresh start of finding a new group of people and environment, there are definitely a few things you give up. You realize that you leave the people that genuinely care about you and your wellbeing. You leave behind the comfort of those that you can be yourself around, those that good times come very easily, those that you don’t have to explain yourself to because they just get you, and those loved ones that will cry when you cry or laugh when you laugh or laugh at you because you are crying. And without these people, there is no one to share life’s little simple moments of happiness with and no one that wants to listen to all the fleeting moments that happen and frivolous thoughts that go through your head during the day. And no one to have silly time with during the day that you will always remember for the rest of your life. And no one that will just go with you to Target at the drop of the hat or go out to eat with you even if they are not hungry because they just want to spend time with you.



So you give up a little in hopes that you will gain a little more and you start on a new adventure in your life; an adventure that can only occur by pushing your comfort zone and deciding to leave home in hopes of creating a new one.

This transition in life has helped me realized that there are two things that make a home: 1. How connected you are to the location. 2. How connected you are to the people. And for both of these to occur it takes time and memories. You definitely have to invest in creating a home environment in both the new place and the new people you met. And you hope that these new people that Garrison Keilor says won't judge you or smirk at you, will also turn out to be genuinely decent people and start to care about you over time.



You definitely know when you consider a place home. If I see pictures of Minnesota or a lake, I instantly get a feeling of nostalgia with uncontrollable happiness and a huge desire to go home. This week one of the people I work with was reading about the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. I just happened to randomly stumble upon him reading this and instantly got really excited because the picture of the boat was it going through the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth, MN (my home!!!!). And for some reason I thought he would want to hear about my hometown. But to my dismay, he just looked at me with judgment and confusion as I went on and on about the lay out of Lake Superior and facts about the Aerial Lift Bridge. I couldn't believe that he did not even care that I was a life guard for two whole summers on Park Point which was OBVIOUSLY the beach on Lake Superior on the other side of the bridge. He just zoned out all of my great facts and stories about my hometown and went back to reading about the fateful night that the ship sank without fully listening to my inside scoop. But what did I expect because this guy also didn’t seem to care a few weeks ago that Prince was from Minnesota and tried to change a Prince song when it came on in the gym… guess he just has no Land of 10,000 Lakes pride. So whatever!

And then there is the connection that you have to people back home. I think no matter where your life travels take you, you instantly feel more connected to people that come from the same place as you. Anybody from Minnesota must be good people in my book, and I will give the benefit of the doubt to anyone from Minnesota before I even think about becoming friends with someone from California or New York. Because let's be honest those people are just different from me :). If you can talk to me about the Minnesota state fair, the lakes of Minneapolis, the St. Paul farmer's market, Minnesota high school hockey, how Duluth is the San Francisco of the Midwest (I might have made that up but anyone from Duluth will know what I am talking about), lake effect snow, -40 degree weather, water skiing, muskie fishing, and extreme pontooning... you are my kind of people.



Leaving a place and starting anew is not a scary thing to me. I have never been afraid of change or I have just been in denial that I am okay with change. Either way, I realize that I have taken a few leaps in my life and I am never that scared to change things up a little. I have realized that I have been blessed because I have made many great friends during different stages of my life. And for the most part these are friends that have helped me to create "homes away from home" during my life. And people that I know I feel "at home" with whenever I am around them. And I know I miss them because recently I have become that girl that starts many stories with “my best friend from college” or “my good friend from high school” or “my best guy friend.” I am not sure if I do this so that people here will realize that I do have friends and they should want to be my friend or because I have realized how important my friends are to me. But it has gotten so bad that my sister has had to ask me “How many best friends do you have?” But I have also started to realize that I have made friendships here that someday will result in stories being told that include "my good friends from Germany".

Which means that this place lately is starting to become home... slowly but surely. I get mildly excited to get back here sometimes (depending on the weather) and the people are starting to become comfortable to me. I am settling in and making good friends and for that I am extremely happy and grateful.

Along with this blog, I thought it was only right that I posted pictures of Minnesota... MY HOME:). I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I do.


(These are the people that will always be my home.)


(This is a view of the lake from the window of my home on Island Lake)

Cinque Terre: The Land of Cat Fights and Hiking to New Heights

Over Columbus Day weekend, I went to Cinque Terre Italy with a group of 8 girls for a Girls' Weekend. We were going with the intent of celebrating Gretchen and Danielle’s birthdays, and managed to have a weekend that I will remember for the rest of my life.



I must admit that before this trip, I felt like this place was getting the best of me. I am not even sure why or how but this environment is really different than anything that I have been exposed to… ever. But the weekend reminded me that no matter how crazy life can get sometimes, all you need are some goofy times, loud laughs, refreshing "real talk"(perferibly on the kitchen floor), and great lifelong-memory-making-sessions to remember what matters in life.


Cinque Terre is made up of five towns on the coast of Italy and it is full of good food (real Italian food and seafood… yum!), great wine and Lemonicello, amazing views, and lots of hiking. It really is an unique place that should be on everyone’s list of places that they should go to sometime in their life.

The funny thing is that I feel that if I tried to relive some of the stories from that weekend they would be lost in translation. The weekend consisted of a bar fight where a gin and tonic was thrown in a girl's face, late night Lemonicello cat calls, Kelly getting attacked by a cat, talks on the kitchen floor, and walks through the paths of CT late at night with no shoes on. So it might truly have been a weekend where you “just had to be there.” But even though only 4 of us girls ventured there with cameras, about 800 pictures were taken. So I will let some of the pictures tell most of the story.

The reason so many pictures were taken is that we did start the weekend by Danielle telling us that she has noticed that when Italian women take pictures they really pose, usually in overly dramatic positions, and then their admiring husbands/boyfriends will let out a “perfecto” if they captured the seductive mood just right. That was all we needed to be convinced that the weekend would be filled with as many “perfecto” poses as possible.

Each of the five towns has its own personality and it is really fun to hike from one town to the other. The first day of hiking, Gretch, Liza, Kelly, and I did get a little tired of hiking so we played a small game of Truth and Dare during the hike. The game pretty much consisted of us drinking a bottle of Meloncello, asking random people odd questions, and Kelly picking up a stray cat that attacked her... but she got away with only a few scratches.

There was also an American bar near our hotel, so we went there both nights. The first night I do believe that we crashed a private party and got into a small bar brawl and the second night we met two men from Ohio that were traveling through Italy for two weeks.

There were actually a lot of Americans in Cinque Terre and one of the high points was that a couple stopped in to the restaurant we were eating at for the birthday celebration. They thanked the girls for all the sacrifices that they make being Army wives (all the girls are married to Army men except for me and Kelly). It was very touching and it was nice for someone to verbalize to these women that the daily sacrifices they make do not go unnoticed. I can't imagine being married and being away from my husband as much as military wives are, so it is nice when that is recognized by someone.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend and just plain unbelievable. I will leave with one of my favorite findings from the weekend. There is a walk of love from one town to the other where people put up locks and write things about their loved ones. This is one of the drawings and it says, "The brave may not live forever, but the cautious never live at all"

It's Just My Imagination... Running Away with Me!

I know that an imagination is a terrible thing to waste, but I do believe that at times mine can be a little over active and way out of control.... especially when it comes to forming both conspiracy theories and possible murder plots against me.



I chalk up the fact that I get scared easily and my ability to come up with crazy scenarios to the fact that I used to watch copious amounts of "Unsolved Mysteries" and "Rescue 911" as a child. Now because of my brother's love for movies, I also watched such thrilling classics as "Fatal Attraction", "Poltergeist," and "Nightmare on Elm Street" at a young age, ie 6-8 years of age... but these didn't really phase me. I was more traumatized and scared by "Willow", "Dark Crystal", "Labyrinth", and "Return to Oz" then I was scared by the actual scary movies. I believe that the later movies freaking me out still has a role in why I can't watch fantasy today. I would rather run into Freddy Krueger on the street than Willow or any small person with long hair for that matter... just saying.



But the point to this story is that I have always been a little timid and scared and believed that someone was actively trying to either kidnap me or kill me or the ones that I love. As a child it was prettty bad. I vividly remember when my mom worked nights, I used to cry myself to sleep in hopes that I would exhaust myself and fall asleep because I needed a break from my imagination believing that there was definitely someone in the house trying to get me. I also remember many times when I was almost kidnapped. Sometime I can tell you the three times that I am sure that I dodged being taken away in a white van... to this day I am positive it almost happened.



As I have grown up, I have actually been able to control my fears except for certain moments. I stay away from scary movies because they mentally mess with me for days. Case and point: When I watched "Mothman Prophecies" I didn't sleep for three days... three days.... there is no reason to not sleep. It is not a scary movie, really but it freaked me out. I also used to have this repeating fear as an adolescent/young adult. I can't believe I am admitting this because it is really dumb. During my senior year of high school and when I would come back during the summers from college, there were many times that I would come home in the middle of the night after hanging out with friends to our haunted creepy looking house on 5th Street in Duluth. When the house was dark, it was really dark. There were NUMEROUS nights that I would crawl into bed and lay there and all of a sudden get really scared that maybe, just maybe, my whole family was murdered while I was out becuase the house was so quiet. And then I would get really scared and frightened about me waking up to a completely dead family. These thoughts were not fleeting, they would penetrate my mind. So I would then do what any logical person would do, I would go into my little brother's room and poke him until he stirred. I chose him for two reasons to affirm that my family was still alive. 1. He would go back to bed easily and not remember it in the morning. I did once crawl into my sister's bed to confirm she was still alive and she yelled at me viciously. It is such an odd feeling to be soooooo happy that your sister is alive that you want to hug her and cuddle with her but she is yelling at you for waking up with her. So after getting the wrath from Gretchen, from then on out, it was always the little brother that would get the nudge test. 2. It was also convenient to choose him, because he was upstairs on the third floor with me so I didn't have to brave the possibility that the murderers might still be in the house and go onto another floor of the house. So i would nudge my brother, see him move, then peacefully fall asleep for the night. I know this is not normal but it happened OFTEN.

But the reason I share this completey crazy story is so that you understand how vivid and controlling my imagination can be.



That brings up the next point about me. I usually don't say anything or bring up my point unless I am sure that I know what I am talking about. And I would say 95% of the time I am right on BUT the 5% of the time that I am wrong... I AM EXTREMELY WRONG. But I will convince everyone that I am with that I am right even during these 5% of time... usually because I believe it with everything that I am. I call these "my conspiracy theory moments" because I will have you believing whatever I believe even when it is all the way out in left field.



So last night all of this came together for one night of freaking myself out which hasn't happened for awhile. But when I do something, I don't do it half ass, so I made up quite the scenario and believed it was unfolding. I woke up at 4 am because the power went out. Now someone might ask, "who wakes up because the power goes out?" because the lights were already off and there was really no way for me to know the power went off but my fan stopped and I am a big white noise sleeper. Therefore, I woke up to complete silence which allowed me to hear those voices in my head that wanted to inform me that bad things might be a brewing. So I can't help at night that my mind wanders and I instantly go back to the fact that the news now says that there is a traveling warning for Europe. And I think to myself is this the terrorists cutting off our power. Now the crazy thing is that when the power goes off, cell phone reception is also lost here. Not sure why.. crazy Germany thing. So I also think have they put up some cloud that doesn't allow the transmission of cell phones from satellites. I also know if this is all coming true, I am not in a good place because if people show up in my lil community of Albessen and ask for Americans... I and the lady who lives below me would be the only sacrificial lambs to offer up. And though I have tried to hide it, everyone here knows I am American... afterall I am referred to as the "Americana frau". So once again I do the only logical thing I can think of for someone that was woken up suddently at 4 am, can't see anything, and is not able to call anyone on her landline or home phone... I light two scented candles, decide that I have to go to my sister's house because I can't shower by candlelight but first take my dogs on a 15 minute walk. I am not sure what I was thinking with the walk except that I didn't think it would be fair for the dogs to have to be home for an extended period of time, since I was leaving at 430 am, without a substantial walk and it would give me a chance to scope out the dark neighborhood.



So after the walk, I had all my stuff and was leaving the house. I kid you not, I put my hand on the frontdoor knob to leave and the lights came on. But it was sorta loud and I screamed louder than I have ever screamed before in my life because I thought it was someone coming to get me.... I am a geek! Downright dweeb.. but I entertain myself many a days and once again my whole conspiracy theory was wrong. I just thought that was a story worth sharing.



So I also used this imagination of mine for good this weekend. I took a bunch of pictures from my time in Germany and made them into black and white photos to hang in my house. I have always wanted a wall of black and white photos so I am pumped to get them and hang them up. I also photoshopped some with different effects and color. I have included some in this blog.



I am going to go to bed now... hopefully without any weird thoughts. BE SAFE AND NUDGE A LOVED ONE TONIGHT... JUST TO BE SURE!

A GERMANY FEST can easily turn into a CRAZY MESS

Fest Season has hit Germany and I have learned that Germans know how to throw parties!



In the past couple weeks, I have ventured out to two of these fests: Bad Durkeim Wine Fest and Oktoberfest.

Everyone knows Oktoberfest and it just so happens to be the 200 year anniversary of the beer celebration this year. But there are tons of fests that go on during this time of year and most of them revolve around alcohol. And I have learned that the Germans have been now partying for centuries since the B. Durkheim wine festival has been going on for 570 years!!!



So the wine fest was up first. We had a big group of people attend the Bad Durkheim wine fest a couple of Sundays ago. Now there are two major mistakes I made right off the bat that I will admit to up front. Mistake 1. Why I thought it was a good idea to go to a drinking based fest on a Sunday, I will never know. And Mistake 2. I drove with co workers instead of taking the train there. (you will find out why this was a bad idea later on because the bad decisions did not stop there, they just started there).

So we get to this fest and it is MAGICAL. I had envisioned that these fests would just entail sitting at a long picnic-like table with friends and drinking. But I was wrong. There was stimulation for the eyes, ears, and tastebuds. This was the Minnesota Fair of wine drinking. The difference was that they did not serve anything on a stick, instead they served wine in 0.5 L glasses. I will give you a second to reflect on what I just said. They served wine in 0.5 L glasses (and filled these glasses fully). Therefore, you are pretty much drinking wine like it is beer… half a bottle at a time. I should have spent a moment at the wine festival to reflect on this fact, but I didn’t…oops… Hello, mistake 3


PLEASE NOTICE THE SIZE OF THE GLASSES OF WINE!

I traveled up in a car with a bunch of girl co-workers. Now as I get older, I don’t like amusement park rides as much as I used to. I refuse to do anything that drops straight down because the feeling of free falling is not and will never be my thing again. And I thought I would be safe because my tech at work, Dajana, has also verbalized that she hates rides. Therefore, I thought there was no way us girls were going on rides. I was wrong because when we got into the fest we went straight for the rides. And the ring leader of who brought us to the rides was Dajana herself. Needless to say, I felt betrayed, confused, and scared. But we would continue to go on rides just-the-two-of-us-self-declared-ride-haters later in the night after a few 0.5 L glasses of wine. And it was actually a lot of fun… even though the ferris wheel was SCARY for the both of us.



The fest was a lot of fun and we stayed quite late and danced to German songs. Our group befriended a stuffed sheep and blow-up plastic air guitars. Dancing with props always adds to the fun!



Then it was time to go home and I decided to take the train home with one of my friends. Now I have never taken the German train before this and hear it can be quite complicated, but I figure I can figure this out. We get to the train station about 10:30 pm and I look at the train schedule. I now realize that out of the two of us, I was the only one that looked at the schedule and that was probably mistake 4 on my part since I have never taken the train. There are two listings going to our final train station destination for 12.09 so I assumed that the next train leaves at 12:09. I now realize what the schedule indicated was that there were two more trains leaving on September 12. I had a moment of stupidity and forgot that is how Europe lists the dates(our date of 9/12 is 12.09 to them) and didn’t think about it twice until we got back at midnight and no trains were running anymore, anywhere. This is also a good time to mention it is freezing cold and raining and we are stuck in B. Durkheim for the night.

The next train leaves at 5:29 am which would get us to our train station at 6:40 am. Since the next day is Monday, that would mean that the two of us could at least get to work only a little bit late. But the next morning, mistake 5 occurs: We take the wrong train, in the wrong direction, and don’t realize it for about 40 minutes.

By the time we get off that train and figure out how to get back, we realize there is no way that we will be at work on time or even before 10 am.

So I call my office manager and tell her that I won’t be until the afternoon to which she thinks I am joking. I think her quote was something like, “You have to be kidding because I would expect this from anyone but you.” I then inform her that I do love a practical joke but I usually don’t pull them at 6:15 in the morning because I love sleep more than fooling people. Then I called my sister to tell her I wouldn’t be into work until the afternoon to which she said, “This doesn’t sound like something you would do.” Whatever!

We finally did get home after taking the most roundabout way home. And I learned some great lessons. Don’t drink wine like it is beer. The German train system can not be figured out with common sense alone and should never be figured out for the first time after some jolly juice.

So I took a couple weekends off of fests but decided to go to Oktoberfest. I debated heavily on this decision because I was not sure if I wanted to drink again and be around drunk people again. But I figured “when in Rome/Germany” and it was the 200 year anniversary celebration.



I went up with two friends, Hattie and Mike, and we stayed in a town that was about an hour and half away named Nurnberg. Mike was meeting all of his guy friends early so that they could get seats in a tent. Hattie and I decided that we would join up early afternoon after doing some shopping chores in Nurnberg.



Hattie and I got to Munchen (German name for Munich) about 12:30 and realized that it was going to be fairly hard to get into the tent even though the guys were saving us seats or actually saving us standing room. But we find a side entrance with a nice Serbian security guard gentleman. We talked to him for about 20 minutes or so and then he let us in as a favor. Thank you!



We then stumbled upon the group of guys that had been drinking since 8 am in the morning. They were also wearing t-shirts that said “Back to Back World War Champs.” So I was surprised that they were all still alive since they decided to wear those shirts to a German fest. But it turns out that the Germans not only know how to party but are also pretty docile and friendly once they start drinking. So fortunately no one was harmed during the drinking of copious amounts of beer at Oktoberfest 2010.



By the time Hattie and I got there things were already pretty crazy. There were so many people everywhere but it was cool because everyone was really friendly. If you ever need a hug, a kiss, or someone to tell you how pretty you are, you just have to go to Oktoberfest.



We stayed til about 8 pm then Hattie, Mike, and I decided that we should take the train back to Nurnberg. When we got to the train station, we saw that our train was leaving from track 24 in 5 minutes. So we ran to track 24 and got on the train. I put on my ipod and fell in and out of sleep until 10 pm rolled around and Mike woke me up to tell me that Bad Durkheim had struck again and we were on the wrong train, in the wrong direction, and no where near Nurnberg. I am still not sure how this one happened because we all saw the same track and it wasn’t just me that looked at the schedule.



So we got off the train in a really desolate town called Plattling at a really dark hour, and 2 hours away from where we should have been. Lucky for us there was a train to Nurnberg in 15 minutes. So we went to the track where three German girls also waited to get to Nurnberg. The electronic screen above track 8 read “Nurnberg 20:17” so we waited and no train. At 20:18 the words disappeared and we found out the train got canceled and no alternative forms of transportation were offered.

At that time we knew we were not getting to Nurnberg tonight, but we had decided to try to get as close as possible, especially since this town did not look too promising. There was one train left at 20:45 to Regensburg which was about halfway between where we were, NoMansLand, Germany, and where we wanted to be, ThePlaceWhereWeHadAHotelRoom, Germany. So we waited for that train and as alas it also was canceled. So we were stuck there!


HOTEL ROOM FOR THE NIGHT OR AT LEAST THE NEXT FOUR HOURS!

We called a taxi to bring us to a hotel room, but first did ask how much it would cost for him to drive us to Nurnberg (we thought we would press our luck and see if this guy was willing to chauffeur us to N.berg.). We pressed our luck but got a big whammy, because we then found out we were 200 km and 280 euros away from sleeping in our already purchased hotel room. So we decided to crash in Plattling until 5 am the next morning.

We did get home the next morning and were able to sleep a few hours before getting back in the car and driving back to Baumholder.


US FINALLY GETTING ON THE RIGHT TRAIN, IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, TO THE RIGHT DESTINATION!

Here is a lesson everyone should learn: Never take the German train with me unless you want to test our problem solving skills and/or see the countryside of Germany.

So things have been crazy and as I declared on facebook, “I need a Zack Morris time out.” This weekend has been just that and it has been glorious. I have decluttered my house, hung up pictures, deep cleaned, and read magazines and a book by a fire in my woodburing stove. I have also made roastedpumpkin seeds which I might be addicted to… yum.. and did some yoga! And given my soul and liver a much needed break!

I have also had an alcohol free weekend. Which I wasn’t sure was going to happen or not. I have one more confession to make before the end of this very long blog. This Monday I did something that I have never done before in my life. I got tipsy all by myself and on purpose :). This is only the third time that I have ever drank alcohol by myself and the other two times were one glass of wine and a couple beers respectively. I actually never drink by myself or drink if I am going through stuff because I don't want to use alcohol as a crutch. But I threw that rule out the window on Monday night and it was FUN TIMES!

On Monday I cleaned my house, mopped my floors, and poured myself a bottle of wine (not all at once though... I still try to stay semi-classy). I told my sister and friend Hattie that it was the best time ever. There was no drama, no crowds… just me, my thoughts, and a dance party for one! I forgot how much I really like myself. Things here can get pretty crazy and drama filled and it was so nice to not have any of that. I was afraid it was a cry for help on my part and might become a common part of my life here, but I did manage to have a weekend this weekend with myself and no alcohol. So I now remember how much I like myself with or without alcohol. I know everyone that knows me thinks that I am an extravert x 10, but I thoroughly thoroughly enjoy my intraverted times and they were much needed this weekend.



If you have made it through this blog, thanks for reading. I know the last couple entries have been long but I have pretty much caught up on blogging and now will focus on staying up to date with short and to the point entries... MAYBE!

Hope all is well with everyone. Tschus!

The Kirschling family came, saw, and conquered Europe

Gretch and I were blessed with getting to spend four weeks with Greg and Annelise, two weeks with Mama and Papa Kirschling, and four days with lil brother Michael. You never know what you are going to get when the Kirschlings come to town because we all have such different dynamic personalities, but it was just a great time with lots of amazing memories.



First, Greg and Annelise flew in for two weeks of them-and-us-time before my mom and dad joined in the festivities for all-of-us-time. They spent the weekends with us and the week in other countries; Barcelona and Cinque Terra, Italy.



The high point was definitely going to Salzburg, Austria and climbing a mountain with Paul and Lucia. The trip almost didn't happen because Gretch's car semi broke down on the way out of town... It was jerking backwards everytime we went in reverse.. seriously whiplash type jerking. We know now her tires were just low on pressure... oops (I think 11 PSI)! But being two girls, we didn’t figure it out at that time so we ditched that car and took other means of transportation to Austria. (sidenote: Remember her husband is not here so how were us two girls to know that) We ended up renting a car and driving. AND IT WAS DEFINITELY WORTH IT!!!



Ever since my last trip to see my friend Paul, I have been dreaming of going back and climbing mountains, hanging out with real Germans, eating mountain food, and drinking Schnapps while singing Sound of Music songs. For this trip, Paul secured us a room in a hut on the top of a mountain for Saturday night. So we got a lil bit more serious about hiking and decided it was going to be an all day event which ended up being an eight hour hike. It was such an adventure. There were definitely times when it was an extremely hard hike. I also did not make it easier on myself because I decided if we were going to climb, we were also going to drink delicious Schnapps, beer and wine on our way up. I am a big fan of yin and yang and balance and find it quite enjoyable to balance physical activities with a lil bit of jolly juice. But it is not so fun when the jolly juice adds a significant amount of weight on your back.



I think the pictures speak for how beautiful the hike truly was. And then we got to the hut which was an unforgetable German/Austrian experience. These huts are big rooms where you are sleeping with strangers. The six of us had a top bunk which was a long board where we all slept side by side and six strangers slept below us. I should also mention the bed created A LOT of noise everytime you got off and on the bed.




So we got to the hut about 8 pm, took freezing cold mountain showers, and had the tasty German goulash meal that was included in the cost of the hut. Everyone was a little bit tired but Annelise and I got our second wind and stayed up to drink some Schnapps and Chimay beer (I wanted to lighten my load for the way down by getting rid of some of the liquid I carried up) and talked about life. It was beautiful to watch the sun go down behind the mountains and all you could hear were cowbells since there were cows everywhere. It turns out that we are the only two people in the whole place that stayed up. But it was a great conversation with lots of laughs.



Actually about two hours into it, we hear from the window in a German voice, “Be Quiet Please.” We were not really talking at this time so Annelise was able to convince me that this German must be talking to the cows because their cowbells were really loud. I did believe her but now in hindsight realize that there probably would be no reason for the German to speak to the cows in English, not his native tongue, because the cows were just as liking to listen to his German request to be quiet as his English one. But I did convince Annelise to move with me to a place away from the windows of those sleeping and to continue to enjoy our mountaintop experience.



And that is what we did for awhile longer until we decided to retire for the night. Then problem two occurred. Neither one of us really scoped out the room with the lights on before everyone else went to bed, and now we would have to navigate to our places on the top bunk between our hiking mates and in the room with about ten other German strangers. As we proceeded upstairs to our slumbering place, Annelise states, “I can’t wait to snuggle with Greg!” who has been asleep for a good four or so hours now. I then open the door to the room and realize there is no way this is not going to be obnoxious and awkward. And I instantly feel very AMERICAN!


So there is no really easy way to get on the top bunk. There is a bench below but tons of strangers sleeping right next to the bench and the top bunk is really high. I found out later there was one ladder between Gretch and Greg but someone had hung their coat on it and I had no idea it was there. And this would be the time to admit that I had the giggles… REALLY BAD! So I am trying not to laugh as I also try to feel out this situation so I can get into bed. I give up on it being simple and quiet, and leap into bed (still not sure how I did that) and then giggle like a little school girl who just heard her first naughty joke and can’t stop even though it is inappropriate and extremely rude. I am so mortified that I take my pillow and suffocate myself to try to stifle the laughs. And fall asleep as I am suffocating myself to Greg saying, “Annelise, no… don’t touch me.” Guess Greg wasn’t as key to cuddling after a long day of hiking as she was.



Now Annelise had brought up the point before we went to bed, “What if we have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?” Anyone that knows me for an extended period of time knows that I have a very weak bladder and anyone that is my immediate family knows that I have a very urgent bladder at times. But I fret not about the bathroom situation because I never have to go in the middle of the night so this hut set up is perfect for me.. or at least I think it is.


Except then 445 am rolls around and I wake up with the fullest bladder ever. So I do the only logical thing I can think of and wake up my sister who is sleeping next to me. Surprisely she was not too amused that I had chosen her to help me out of this pickle. Now I was able to leap up and get onto this bed but there is no way I am getting down by leaping off. So I ask Gretch to help me… which did not make her so happy. She then tries to show me the ladder with the light on her watch. To which I take the watch off her hand and try to use it myself and can’t. Then like an angel my partner in crime, Annelise, sits straight out of bed and says “Are you going to the bathroom? Thank goodness, I have to go too.” Then Greg wakes up and says, “What are you guys doing?” To which a stern Gretchen says, “We are going to the bathroom but not by MY choice.” So Gretch helps the helpless Annelise-and-Meaghan-duo get down and find the bathroom. I now have the giggles again but find out that Gretch is not going to wait for me to finish giggling before going back to the room. So I think about sad things and stop giggling to get back to the room and have Gretchen push me back up to bed.

The next morning we get up, get breakfast, and make the five hour hike back down the mountain. I do have to say out of all the things that I have done in Europe, hiking in Salzburg has definitely been my favorite. And this hike was just good times with good people.


The next weekend my parents came and we went to Scotland for their international festival. We saw the military tattoos and went to the Whiskey Experience. It was such great times!!! The military tattoos was amazing and it was a great way to honor the troops and think of Josh.



The next day we went to the Whiskey Experience so that my family could learn about whiskey and then continued to drink while enjoying Scotland. Greg was in rare form and if anyone has ever had the privilege of seeing my brother when he is completely on, they know that great memories and major laughs are had by all. It is hard to explain just how funny that kid is but I will say that the night including Greg playing “Baby bird” in the streets of Scotland and having my dad feed him beer and being a robot at the dinner table…. To which the waiter came up and said “Why do you guys talk about robots so much?” We just played off that we were a geeky family that enjoyed conversations about robots and the movie "Weird Science" and "Short Circuit." The night ended with Gretchen deciding that she needed to get potato chips for my dad because she thought he would want a late night snack. So she walked into a bar and asked for a big glass of pistachios, because she was told potato chips were not an option, and a shot of vodka. Gretchen doesn’t like vodka and doesn’t take shots but this just exemplifies what she will do for my dad. She then took the shot and walked out with the pistachios to get home to my dad sleeping… These moments are when I know she is my dad’s favorite and rightfully so!



That next week my parents, Annelise, and Greg went to Berlin. Then we all flew to Venice to meet up with Michael. Michael had a traumatizing first night and actually ended up getting wet due to spending some time in a canal and got completely lost in the streets of Venice. So we had to wait at the hotel for two hours not knowing where he was. But everything ended fine and we actually had a good rest of the weekend. My favorite part was going to the island of Murano and Burano to see the glass blowing and lace making part. Those places were less touristy and quite pretty. Venice was beautiful and most places here are a lot smaller than I imagine but Venice was much bigger and cooler than I had imagined… but quite confusing!



The last week was spent just hanging out here and having lots of fun. Great conversations were had, trivial pursuit was played a lot along with Apples to Apples and the Game of Things. It was so nice to have family here and I miss having them around.



I forgot how hard I laugh when I am around the fam and it really made Germany feel like home for the first time having them here for so long. I have been so blessed to have such an unique experience with each of my siblings and a genuine relationship with each one. I have lived with each of them at some time or another in my life and I truly admire and appreciate the differences among us. I have learned so much from my family and was reminded during these few weeks how much life is enjoyable just being around them!



And I learned that it is super fun to travel here and visit me… so who is next?